Electrothermal Monte Carlo simulation of submicron wurtzite GaN/AlGaN HEMTs

We present results from the simulation of the electrothermal behaviour of submicron wurtzite GaN/AlGaN High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs). The simulator uses an iterative procedure which couples a Monte Carlo simulation with a fast Fourier series solution of the Heat Diffusion Equation (HDE). The results demonstrate the dependence of the extent of the thermal droop observed in the I_ds-V_ds characteristics and the device peak temperature on the device bias. The paper also investigates the effect of the inclusion of thermal self-consistency on the device microscopic properties and studies the dependence of the device electrothermal characteristics on the type of substrate material used.     

Chemometric Characterization of Eight Monovarietal Algerian Virgin Olive Oils

Differences in triacylglycerol, fatty acid, squalene, and tocopherol compositions were demonstrated between 8 varieties of virgin olive oils (Aberkane, Aguenaou, Aharoun, Aimel, Bouchouk Guergour, Bouichret, Chemlal, and Sigoise) from Petite Kabylie area, north eastern Algeria. Fatty acid and triacylglycerol morphotypes characterized each variety. A principal component analysis, based on triacylglycerol, fatty acid, and squalene compositions, differentiates between varieties. Minor fatty acids and squalene, usually not taken into account individually in authentication studies, are strongly involved in this differentiation, whereas the discriminant power of tocopherols is weak. Soft Independent Modeling of Class Analogy classification using chemical compositions as variables showed a high potential to authenticate the varietal origin of Algerian virgin olive oils.     

MHD mixed convection flow along a vertically heated sheet

Main objective of this frame work is to establish the modeling and simulation of mix convection flow along a vertically heated sheet filled with water. Two important mechanisms: magneto-hydrodynamics and porous medium are also considered within the restricted domain of the fluid flow. Temperature is controlled with the wall temperature and then mathematical model is constructed in the form of PDEs. To determine the similarity solution results are obtained via two different techniques. Numerically solutions are obtained with the help of shooting technique and then validate with the help of optimal homotopy analysis method (OHAM). Obtained analytical and numerical results are validated graphically. Effect of emerging parameters are plotted for velocity and temperature profiles. It is found that for mixed convection parameter $(\xi <0)\text{,}$ velocity profile depicts the increasing behavior for various values of power index m. However, for $\xi >0\text{,}$ velocity profile shows the decreasing behavior with respect the parameter m. Temperature distribution in the restricted domain depicts the decreasing behavior for both m and $\xi$.     

Thermal-Induced Wear Mechanisms of Sheet Nacre in Dry Friction

Sheet nacre is a natural biocomposite with a multiscale structure including a mineral phase of calcium carbonate (97 wt.%) and two organic matrices (3 wt.%). The mineral phase is constituted by an arrangement of CaCO₃ biocrystal nanograins (ca 40 nm in size) drowned in an “intracrystalline” organic matrix (4 nm thick) in order to form a microsized flat organomineral aragonite platelet. These platelets are themselves surrounded by an “intercrystalline” organic matrix (40 nm thick) building up a very tough materials. This microarchitecture referred to as “bricks and mortar” nacre structure, is mainly studied for the creation of new organic/inorganic hybrid materials. Currently, only little is known about the nacre mechanical behaviour under dynamical loading and more particularly under tribological conditions which involve shocks and thermal effects simultaneously. This paper brings out the thermal-induced damage mechanisms effect on the wear of sheet nacre by the assessment of the thermal component of the friction with a scanning thermal microscope. Results reveal that the mean contact pressure is the main driving force involved in the degradation of the organic constituents. For the lowest mean contact pressure (<0.4 MPa), wear is rather weak because the friction-induced thermal component is not sufficient for degrading the organic matrices. In contrast, beyond 0.4 MPa, the friction-induced contact temperature rises up over the melting point of the organic matrices, and may even reach the temperature of the aragonite–calcite phase transformation increasing dramatically the wear of sheet nacre.     

Thermo-hydrodynamic aspect analysis of flows in solar chimney power plants—A case study

The purpose of the work presented in this study is related to heat transfer and airflow modelling analysis in solar chimneys, according to some dominant parameters. A typical case of application is given in this study. It consists in analyzing a natural laminar convective heat transfer problem taking place in a chimney. Heat transfer and fluid dynamic aspects of the airflow, through an axis symmetric system in a dimensionless form, with well defined boundary conditions is thus examined. Results are related to the temperature distribution and the velocity field in the chimney and in the collector, determined by solving the energy equation, and the Navier–Stokes equations, using finite volume method. The numerical code based on this modelling is validated through the Vahl Davis benchmark solution for natural convection and to other authors for other cases.     

An efficient playout smoothing mechanism for layered streaming in P2P networks

Layered video streaming in peer-to-peer (P2P) networks has drawn great interest, since it can not only accommodate large numbers of users, but also handle peer heterogeneity. However, there’s still a lack of comprehensive studies on chunk scheduling for the smooth playout of layered streams in P2P networks. In these situations, a playout smoothing mechanism can be used to ensure the uniform delivery of the layered stream. This can be achieved by reducing the quality changes that the stream undergoes when adapting to changing network conditions. This paper complements previous efforts in throughput maximization and delay minimization for P2P streaming by considering the consequences of playout smoothing on the scheduling mechanisms for stream layer acquisition. The two main problems to be considered when designing a playout smoothing mechanism for P2P streaming are the fluctuation in available bandwidth between peers and the unreliability of user-contributed resources—particularly peer churn. Since the consideration of these two factors in the selection and scheduling of stream layers is crucial to maintain smooth stream playout, the main objective of our smoothing mechanism becomes the determination of how many layers to request from which peers, and in which order. In this work, we propose a playout smoothing mechanism for layered P2P streaming. The proposed mechanism relies on a novel scheduling algorithm that enables each peer to select appropriate stream layers, along with appropriate peers to provide them. In addition to playout smoothing, the presented mechanism also makes efficient use of network resources and provides high system throughput. An evaluation of the performance of the mechanism demonstrates that the proposed mechanism provides a significant improvement in the received video quality in terms of lowering the number of layer changes and useless chunks while improving bandwidth utilization.     

Electrothermal Monte Carlo Simulation of Submicrometer Si/SiGe MODFETs

In this paper, we present results from the simulation of submicrometer Si/SiGe modulation-doped field-effect transistors (MODFETs) using an electrothermal Monte Carlo method. The relationships between the thermal droop effect observed in the electrothermal I_d -V_ds characteristics of the devices and the microscopic properties of electron transport and the temperature profiles are studied. The effects of varying the effective semiconductor die dimensions and the thickness of the SiGe buffers on the electrothermal behavior of the devices are also investigated. A comparison of the electrothermal performance of the simulated Si/SiGe MODFET with that of a GaAs-based HEMT is also carried out     

A parallel algorithm for constrained two-staged two-dimensional cutting problems

In this paper, we solve the two-staged two-dimensional cutting problem using a parallel algorithm. The proposed approach combines two main features: beam search (BS) and strip generation solution procedures (SGSP). BS employs a truncated tree-search, where a selected subset of generated nodes are retuned for further search. SGSP, a constructive procedure, combines a (sub)set of strips for providing both partial lower and complementary upper bounds. The algorithm explores in parallel a subset of selected nodes following the master-slave paradigm. The master processor serves to guide the search-resolution and each slave processor develops its proper way, trying a global convergence. The aim of such an approach is to show how the parallelism is able to efficiently solve large-scale instances, by providing new solutions within a consistently reduced runtime. Extensive computational testing on instances, taken from the literature, shows the effectiveness of the proposed approach.